Amazing Facts About Celine Dion

The chances are you have heard a Celine Dion song over the years. Whether she is standing on the tip of the Titanic with her amazing ballads or even performing the soundtrack for the new Deadpool movie, you can’t deny the icon has had an amazing career. The award-winning superstar has just turned 50 and shows no signs of slowing down. Join us as we break down some of the biggest ups and downs over her life – including love, loss, and the strength to overcome life’s challenges.

Celine Dion was born on March 30, 1968, in Charlemagne, and is the youngest of 14 children.

She shares the same heritage as Madonna – both of them are related to the same French-Canadian ancestor, Zacharie Cloutier.

Celine Dion was named after the Hugues Aufray song Celine, which was released two years before she was born. Becoming a star was clearly in her destiny.

Despite her love of singing and music, her mother is actually famous for her cooking abilities. It seems Dion was destined to go in another direction.

She debuted her voice at a cousin’s wedding at the age of five and never stopped from there.

The first album she ever bought was Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book from 1972.

She used to regularly perform at Le Vieux Baril, a family-owned piano bar with her siblings.

At age 12, Celine Dion wrote and recorded her own demo tape, Ce n’était qu’un rêve, which her mother sent to a famous Canadian music producer René Angélil (more on him later!)

Her performance caught his attention and he knew instantly that he wanted to sign her.

Rene Angelil signed Celine Dion under the condition that he had complete control over her career. He was so adamant in her success he even mortgaged his house to pay for her first album, La Voix du bon Dieu.

Celine Dion performed for Pope John Paul II at aged 16, singing Une colombe in front of 65,000 people.

By the time she was 18, Celine Dion had recorded nine French albums and won many different awards, paving her way to a lifetime of international stardom.

Celine Dion underwent invasive plastic surgery to obtain the looks she felt she needed to be successful.

Celine Dion injured her throat during a 1989 tour, having to go silent for almost a month to allow time for her voice to heal.

She worked hard to represent Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, taking home the trophy to a proud country.

Her first English album wasn’t until 1990 – two years before her breakout gig duetting with Peabo Bryson on Beauty and the Beast

Her US debut was on The Tonight Show in 1990, where Johnny Carson predicted ‘the world will be hearing a lot from her’.

Celine Dion performed at President Bill Clinton’s first inauguration in 1993, performing Love Can Move Mountains at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

In 1993, Celine Dion publicly confessed personal feelings for her manager, René Angélil (remember him?). They had begun an affair when she was 18 and he was 46. That’s quite the age gap!

The couple got married in December 1994 and was broadcast live on television in Canada.

Celine Dion is three months younger than her stepson, Patrick Angelil.

She is perhaps best known for the power ballad My Heart Will Go On from Titanic, one of the most successful films ever made.

In 2000, Celine Dion announced she was taking time off her career to focus on starting a family. She had previously had trouble conceiving and underwent IVF treatment.

Celine Dion underwent IVF treatment and ended up having three healthy and beautiful children.

She has her own magazine, called Celine Dion Magazine, and has appeared on the cover of Elle

Her autobiography, Ma vie, mon rêve (My Story, My Dream) was published in 2000 with the help of Georges-Hebert Germain.

In 2004. Celine Dion received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Canadian fans will know she was already honored on the Canadian Walk of Fame a year earlier.

Celine Dion is a huge philanthropist, helping raise $1 million for victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Continuing her humanitarian efforts, Dion gave an additional $1 million to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Celine Dion can be quite the rebel! In 2004 she publicly criticized the US government and its slow response to Katrina, saying ‘we need to serve our country’.

Her fraternal twin sons are called Nelson and Eddy, named after Nelson Mandela and Eddy Marnay, respectively. They were born on October 23, 2010.

She has duetted with other famous stars, such as Michael Jackson, Barbara Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, and Aretha Franklin.

Celine Dion enjoys covering other people’s music showing respect for talent in the industry. She famously covered Eric Carmen’s All by Myself, Cyndi Lauper’s I Drove All Night, and John Lennon’s Beautiful Boy.

Celine Dion is a fan of shoes, confessing to having more than 500 pairs in her wardrobe.

In 2016, tragedy struck the Dion household. Even though he had overcome a stage of cancer in the past, Celine’s husband René passed away in January at the age of 73.

Two days later, her brother Daniel also died of cancer. He had been battling the disease in the throat, tongue, and brain.

She launched the Celine Dion Foundation to help underprivileged children and those in need.

Her most recent single, Ashes, appeared as the opening song in the superhero action film Deadpool 2.

Her oldest son, Rene-Charles, is something of a musician himself – he recorded two rap songs in a home studio which was released on Soundcloud.

Her albums have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.

In a commitment to our less and spend time with her family, she took residency in Las Vegas, performing to thousands of fans each night and earning $400 million.

According to her publicity team, Celine Dion is currently being treated for hearing issues, resulting in the cancellation of a number of her Las Vegas shows.